Airman recognized for vehicle accident response

Published Feb. 11, 2015
By Master Sgt. Tim Jenkins
Master Sgt. Tim Jenkins

BARKSDALE AFB, La. -- A second lieutenant with Headquarters, Air Force Global Strike Command was recognized here Jan. 29, 2015, for her response to a vehicle accident.

Maj. Gen. Clark, Air Force Global Strike Command vice commander, presented 2nd Lt. Brianne Soles, an AFGSC command briefer assigned to the Intelligence Directorate, with the Air Force Achievement Medal for her response to an accident near Milton, Fla., Nov. 11, 2014, where a sports utility vehicle rolled, trapping three passengers inside.

"I didn't expect (to be recognized) at all and I'm very appreciative," said Soles, an Akron, Ohio, native commissioned through the Kent State University Reserve Officer Training Corps program.

She said the presentation of the award brought back the memory of the accident and her actions.

"I was driving back to Barksdale, and I had only been on the highway for about five minutes," said Soles. "An SUV went flying by in the left hand lane and the tire blew. You hear clichés about how everything slows down in situations like that. It really does - it slows down and then everything is a blur."

The vehicle landed upside down in Soles' lane. She and the driver of another vehicle, who was a nurse, ran to the flipped SUV, where a mother and an unconscious grandmother were pinned in the front seats.

"I've had to take a lot of different CPR and first aid classes, and in ROTC we learn self-aid buddy care, so I feel like that kind of stuff was running through my head as the adrenaline was going," she said.

Soles and the other driver assisted a young girl, who was secured by her seatbelt in the back seat, with getting out of the vehicle.

"For ROTC we used to do egress training and Humvee rollover training, so that helped with telling the girl to brace herself and help her so she wouldn't fall. That (training) was what I immediately thought of."

After removing the young girl from the vehicle and escorting her to safety, Soles returned for the other passengers, but was unable to get them out. She remained with them, talking to keep them calm until emergency responders arrived.

"My dad is an EMT and a firefighter, so I hear about this kind of stuff from him all the time, and my degree is in the medical field," said Soles. "It was never really a thought to not stop and do something. I just literally bolted out of my car and ran to the vehicle. It was kind of a whirlwind."

According to authorities, Soles' quick actions aided in the survival of the victims.

Soles' supervisor, Maj. Mark Davis, AFGSC Intelligence Directorate Analysis and Application branch chief, nominated her for the award.

"I thought the actions taken were, more or less, in her DNA," said Davis. "Lieutenant Soles deserves to be recognized for what she did and the example it should be to the rest of us - service before self."